Snowden reacts to UIDAI tweet about Aadhaar
22 January 2018 15:21 GMT

Privacy advocate and infamous whistleblower Edward Snowden has said India's unique ID system should be careful about its links with third-parties.

In response to a Unique Identification Authority of India's (UIDAI) tweet busting Aadhaar myths where it calls Aadhaar an identifier and not a profiling tool, Snowden said that while that could be true there are other issues.

"But any Indian can tell you they're asked for their number by non-government entities — and those companies have databases too," said Snowden.

Snowden on Sunday called Aadhaar "an improper gate to service" and said demands to link it to various services "must be criminalised." Snowden tweeted this while sharing an online article authored by former head of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) K C Verma.

He later retweeted those who replied to him pointing out how banks and telecom companies in India are insistent on Aadhaar linkage. Later on Sunday evening, Snowden took an older tweet from the Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) itself and responded to it, pointing out design flaws in information flow with Aadhaar.